Pontevecchio: a bridge too far — gone?

Intent on delivering a love-letter to the Fremont trattoria (and using me as his cupid), William T. Clark writes: “We had a wonderful dining experience with you on St. Valentine’s evening. Sunday morning we went by the restaurant to make sure we’d remember where it was for our next visit and the charming place we’d been in only hours before seemed to be being demolished. How can this be? What are your plans for the future?” And he’s not the only fan puzzled by the closure. “Et tu, Pontevecchio?” writes Matt Slinger. “I saw the ominous brown paper up in the the windows passing thru Fremont last night. What did I miss?”

I also saw the “ominous brown paper” when I drove past Sicilian restaurateur Michele Zacco’s 13-year-old ristorante this week. And when I called the place on Wednesday, there was his heavily Italian-accented voice, intoning the restaurant’s hours and urging potential customers to leave a message. By Thursday, that recording had been replaced with an all-too-familiar three-note tone followed by “We’re sorry, you have reached a number that has been disconnected or is no longer in service. . . ”

And after numerous calls around town over the past two days, I’m coming up with a whole lotta nothin’. Michele, seen below with his mamma, Provvidenza, is clearly outta there — as is the neon signage that had long graced his ristorante. But where did they go? Help me out here, folks: anybody know anything?

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Bethany Jean Clement is The Seattle Times food writer. Her writing has also appeared in Best Food Writing, Food & Wine, Gourmet.com, Beard House, Town & Country, Edible Seattle, The Stranger and more. Follow her on Twitter: @BJeanClement.